The shadow of a mercenary
by FromAnotherWorld
Summary: Lylat is in peril. An old enemy has returned to full power. However, this time there's another complication the Star Fox team has to deal with, namely betrayal... or that's how it seems. Will they finally uncover the truth and be able to defeat Andross once more?
1. Flying high falling deep

AN:This is going to be a longer story than my previous ones; that is, if I don't lose the necessary motivation to continue again. It's going to include (almost) all characters but of course it will focus on just a few and some, even some who will be important, will only show up a few chapters later. That said, the length of the chapters can vary quite a lot depending on their content and, though I will try to update halfway regularly, I can't guarantee for it. Also, the first few scenes don't all take place directly after each other and they're not all in chronological order. That's why I am sometimes going to write the place and time they happen in in italics before the scene starts.

This story takes place after Assault. I am only treating 64, Adventures and Assault as canon. I might, however, use elements of other things such as Command but I will alter those however I please.

**Flying high; falling deep**

_Katina_

The bird went through austere corridors that were held in a plain white and past uniformed people who were all the same and all meaningless to him; nothing different to the furniture and machinery he passed by. Some of them seemed to recognize him, a few even as if they personally knew each other, and he recognized some of them, though he didn't know them. He reacted to their greetings the way he had learned to, the way he was meant to and faked facial-expressions he didn't truly understand the meaning of.

All he knew was the reason he was here for, the purpose he had and with this purpose being the sole thing on his mind the avian proceeded towards his destination. He didn't ask why as he wouldn't have known an answer to this question, as there never had been an answer to this question.

It wasn't difficult to find his way. To him it was as if he had been walking those corridors countless times, even though he in fact had never been here before.

The blue-feathered bird reached a solid metal door and typed in a combination of numbers to unlock it. With a soft hiss it opened allowing him in and he went straight to the computer on the other end of the room switching it on and entering another password. He waited for it to boot up, got himself access to the data he was looking for and started to download it.

Meanwhile he bent down placing an explosive under the desk and, as soon as he had everything he had come for, he turned around and went for the exit.

His way out of the complex was much like his way in had been. He knew exactly where he needed to avoid to be seen and where people wouldn't further regard him. After a few minutes of walking through corridors the avian reached his blue and white space-fighter and got into his cockpit starting the engines.

In no hurry he took off lifting up into the air till the building beneath him looked tiny, like a house made of building blocks. Calmly he took the detonator he had left in his space-ship and pressed a button. First he saw how several parts of the base lit up being blasted apart by clouds of red and orange flames and then he heard the distant bang of an explosions that wasn't even loud from so far above.

He had completed his mission. Before anyone could bother him the bird sped up and escaped into outer-space leafing this planet behind and heading for the one he came from.

* * *

_Zoness; about a month later_

Falco was sitting in a run-down bar of dubious nature downing the forth or fifth glass of whiskey. His mind was in a blurry state he had gotten used to over the past weeks. It was the only thing that could keep him from thinking and – even more important – from feeling.

Not much more than a month ago he had been quite positive believing that everything was gradually going back to normal but then once of a sudden the opposite had come true. Within a few days he had lost almost everything without any prior warning, right out of the blue and what little had been left he had lost in the following weeks leaving him with nothing but his pitiful existence.

He no longer was a part of StarFox; he no longer was a friend of Fox, of any other member of the team or really anyone else; he no longer was a celebrated hero, a savior of the Lylat-System. Instead he had a bounty on his head, was wanted across the Lylat-System, had no place to stay and no friend to turn to, had no money left and his Arwing was gone too. It had almost gotten shot down by the Cornerian army and, without any money to pay for the repair, it was useless.

The worst part about it probably was that he had done absolutely nothing to deserve all this. He was accused of crimes he had never committed, yet it was said there was incontrovertible proof. The only thing this actually proved to Falco was that the Cornerians were stupid, incompetent dick-heads without the tiniest amount of brain-cells – a fact he had actually known for a long time.

The blue bird, whose feathers were all tousled and matted creating a huge contrast to his usual flawless appearance, ordered another glass to drown his sorrow. He sighed in disappointment about his life and the whole Lylat-System his thoughts slowly drifting off to Katt. She was the only thing he truly had lost for his own fault, the only one he was not angry with when thinking about. Instead he was angry with himself. Just why had he needed to be so stupid?

He hadn't actually cheated on her after all they hadn't been a couple... not really at least. However, he had known she had some interest in him, actually ever since they had first met, and they had been growing closer. At least till that day he had forgotten they had arranged to meet and he had ended up in bed with another woman, anyways.

After Katt had been waiting for him for about an hour and he hadn't answered his phone she had decided to look for him. Well, and she had found him. She had been angry and hurt and then she had run off. It had been the very next day his life had turned into utter chaos forcing him to leave and hide away. He hadn't even gotten a chance to look for her and he'd not even have known what to say anyways. Falco knew he felt different about Katt than about everyone else; he just didn't know how to deal with this.

The bird finished his glass recalling her face, her smile, her bright blue eyes in those days before she had been that angry with him. Getting more and more tired he let his eyes fall almost shut. This melancholy didn't suit him... but it was always easy not to fall into melancholy if your past was an awful mess of crap and not your present. It was more difficult if you had lost everything and only now realized how much you had really had.

Falco might have fallen asleep right there at this table if there hadn't been a sudden movement outside the small greasy window to his left that caught his attention. There had been a shape... a figure... strangely familiar. At first Falco couldn't figure out who he thought to have seen outside the bar but his intuition told him that what he associated with this person was nothing good.

The avian narrowed his eyes in alert getting up from his chair and knocking it over as he stumbled forwards. His clouded mind wasn't able to process much but after a month of being constantly on the run and a life that often had been neither nice nor safe he still knew better than to drop his guards. What he failed to realize due to the alcohol level in his blood, however, was how little he was in the right state to fight.

Falco drew his blaster walking, or rather staggering towards the exit and stepped into the night. The chilly, though not completely fresh air outsides helped a little to clear his mind as he went towards a few rusty containers he thought to have seen someone behind from inside the bar. Keeping a distance the falcon walked around those containers stumbling a step backwards and jumping out of the way just in time as a slim, not very tall figure got up from behind them aiming a blaster at him and as a green laser-beam hit the ground where he had just been standing.

As fast as his drunk state allowed him to, the bird rolled behind a parked sky-car taking cover. Leon? What was the StarWolf-member doing here? Regardless. Falco wouldn't mind killing that lizard.

Trying not to make any sound the avian crept to the other end of the car to get into a better position to aim shortly peering out from behind it to see where the chameleon had gone. However, Leon was nowhere to be found.

Staying ducked the bird rushed over to another parked car carefully looking around trying to spot the reptile but he stayed frustratingly unsuccessful. The alcohol didn't exactly help making the naturally daring and risk-loving bird any more careful or patient and it also didn't really better his judgment. Therefore he crawled around the sky-car scanning the area for his enemy but the only living-beings he could spot were two non-anthropomorphic rats and a fat drunkard stumbling out of the bar and bumping into a streetlight.

Falco was starting to get annoyed and uneasy. That lizard couldn't have vanished into thin air. Just as he made his way over to the containers, Leon had previously been hiding behind, trying to stay as much in cover as possible another laser beam lit the darkness of the night.

With a yelp of surprise the bird tumbled as a wave of pain shook his body. Dazed and gasping for breath he remained on the ground his vision getting a bit blurry for a moment. Falco squeezed his eyes shut trying to clear his mind and as he opened them up again he saw a dark figure walking up to him.

He had been hit directly in the chest, but he wasn't dead, he wasn't bleeding and there was no smoldering hole in his body. Why was Leon's blaster switched to stun?

Just as Leon had reached him, seemingly in no hurry at all, Falco rolled over with a groan trying to get back up but he was too slow. With ease the lizard took his blaster from him tossing it aside holstered his own and twisted Falco's arm to his back.

The bird was still too dazed to put up much of a fight and the chameleon didn't need to make any great effort to immobilize him. Leon pulled him a little closer resting Falco's head on his lap before he started pressing a piece of cloth onto his beak.

It only vaguely dawned on Falco that this was something he should rather not breathe in and he tried to hold his breath weakly struggling to pull free but to no avail. After a few moments of resisting the urge to breathe in the bird gave in to his need for oxygen and within seconds all his thoughts, feelings and perceptions faded into blackness.

* * *

Leon kept the avian's beak wrapped into his piece of cloth till he was sure he was no longer awake and then put it aside turning the bird onto his back. Finally! For how long had he been wanting to have Falco in this position now?

The lizard took a short while simply sitting there and looking down at his anesthetized enemy in content. The bird's feathers were filthy and he stank of alcohol making him look just as down as he truly was; it even was a little disgusting. Yet for the first time in the last month he seemed to be at ease sleeping soundly on the dusty ground.

The chameleon picked his enemy's limp body up and half carried half dragged him to one of the nearby parked sky-cars, placing him on the back seats in a lying position. Pushing one of Falco's legs that was dangling down back into the car he closed the door and got into the driver's seat. Once more he looked at the sleeping falcon for the awareness that he finally truly had him before he started the engines heading back to the Wolf'sFang, StarWolf's mother-ship.


	2. Heated battles and incomplete teams

**Heated battles and incomplete teams**

_Not far from the Cornerian orbit; about a week earlier_

"Help! Help! I can not shake them!" a distressed frog's voice came in over the com-link.

Fox flew a loop evading a missile which was targeting him and looked at his radar establishing his green wing-mate's position. He sped up towards the frog doing a barrel-roll to deflect some laser beams, charged his laser and locked onto the first of the three drones that were chasing his friend blasting it apart.

With another loop the fox escaped a drone that was attempting to follow him firing at the two enemies which were still trying to down Slippy.

"Phew! Thanks Fox! Those things are really nasty." the frog sighed in relief. However, the very next moment two more drones attacked him from different sides forcing him to do a quick evasive maneuver.

Fox could only hope Slippy was able to handle those on his own as he himself was more than busy enough blasting enemies apart and dodging their vehement attacks. He dove down, did two more barrel-rolls, shot charged laser-bolts at enemy-drones and -ships, turned sharply to the left, flew a loop to get behind a missile that was targeting him and shot it down.

"Argh, could someone lend me a hand?" Peppy ask gritting his teeth. The old rabbit was trying to shake a space-fighter and two drones but there were too many enemies ahead to get rid of them without getting hit by another.

"Alright. I am on my way." Fox replied heading for his old team-member but countless drones, laser-beams, missiles and enemy-ships made it difficult to reach the rabbit.

Fox growled in annoyance as a weak laser-bolt hit his wing and dodged the rest of the shots that were relentlessly fired at him. It took the vulpine some time to reach Peppy and to blast the enemies who were firing at him apart but luckily the old mercenary was still able enough not to take too much damage in the meanwhile.

"Thanks Fox, your skills are as good as ever." the rabbit gave an approving nod and they headed into different directions again.

This was a tough fight and with Falco and Krystal gone the StarFox-leader couldn't tell if they'd make it out alive. Now he was the only excellent pilot left on the team. Slippy, though the worst of them, wasn't a bad pilot. Yet there were many decent pilots in the Lylat-System, quite a few of them being better than the constantly nervous frog, and there was no denying that Peppy was getting too old for the job. The rabbit was still a skilled and experienced member of the team but his best days clearly lay in the past.

Whit Falco gone team StarFox just wasn't what it had used to be anymore. In spite of the bird's proneness to taking too high risks Fox had never known a pilot as talented as him and there was no way of replacing him. And with Krystal gone Fox wasn't who he had used to be anymore. Her disappearance had left an empty space in his heart no one else could fill.

Their shining days as the saviors of the Lylat-System were gone and now they were just an incomplete mercenary-team in a futile struggle to do a job they were no longer capable of.

Andross had returned to full power, had declared a new war on the Lylat-System and won battle after battle. This time, it seemed, not even Star-Fox could stop him. The Cornerian army was doing its best to fight the ape's drones and soldiers back and so was StarFox but even so Venom kept expanding its sphere of influence conquering one planet after another.

The vulpine sped up rolling to avoid damage to his ship and approached one of the massive battle-ships that were protected by swarms of smaller fighters. Already further away it had been difficult not to lose track of his enemies' maneuvers due to their sheer number but here it was almost impossible. Behind Fox Slippy once more cried out in panic needing to get saved by Peppy and several Cornerian soldiers got shot down but the vulpine had no time to divide any of his attention to this being far too busy with the vehement tries of the drones and enemy-fighters to shoot him down.

After dodging a few more shots he fired a volley of laser-beams into the battleship but they didn't even leave tiny scratches. The ship's shields were way too strong for his laser. "Dang!" the vulpine cursed being at a loss of ideas on how to defeat those things. Yet they would cause far too much damage should they reach Corneria to leave any way of stopping them untried. The Cornerian defenses might be able to take out a few of them near the planet but definitely not this amount.

"The shields of those ships are too strong for your canons." Slippy informed him.

"Thanks." Fox replied unable to hide the hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I've just realized that myself."

"If you want to destroy them you'll need to deactivate or take out the shield-generators first." the frog added.

"Alright. Where do I find them?" the vulpine wanted to know being unable to spot anything on those battle-ships that looked like a weak point.

"They're inside the ships." the team's mechanic explained.

"Great. So this means I have to dock on it and reach the generators on foot?" Fox assumed.

"Yes, I don't see another way." Slippy confirmed.

This plan seemed more like suicide than like a valid solution to their problem but there appeared to be no other way and Fox had already succeeded in many things most would have deemed impossible. Cursing quietly the vulpine piloted his Arwing towards the docking-bay of the battleship evading massive laser-beams that were directed towards him and shot at some of the drones while they were still leaving the ship.

"I'll sent you a scan of this battleship and highlight the shield-generators." the frog informed him.

"Alright. I am going in now." Fox replied rolling to the left to avoid another laser-beam of the battleship that would have blasted his Arwing apart had it hit. In a swift maneuver the vulpine flew into the docking-bay evading some more shots and enemies, landed his fighter and abandoned it to get further into the ship on foot.

"By, the way. Aren't the GreatFox's canons strong enough to do some damage to those ships?" Fox ask while carefully peering around the first corner.

"Theoretically, yes but the GreatFox isn't maneuverable enough to avoid being shot down and those battleships' canons and shields are superior to it." Slippy explained.

"But, they are not very maneuverable either, are they? Couldn't we just do some quick damage using the GreatFox and retreat afterwards?" the vulpine considered.

"It's still risky, but possible I guess." the frog agreed.

"Listen, Rob. Select one battle-ship I am not in right now and do what we've just discussed." Fox ordered.

"Affirmative." the robot replied.

"And Rob." Fox added. "Warp my Arwing back onto the Great Fox and send it back to me when I tell you."

Armed with his blaster, a machine-gun, his reflector and some grenades the fox left the docking-bay behind proceeding as fast as he could without dropping his guards. Using the map Slippy had sent him for orientation he run through metal corridors that were surprisingly empty.

At first he approached his destination quite fast starting to feel a bit optimistic about the whole mission but he soon had to realize it would be no easier than he initially had imagined. After he had passed through a few corridors staying undisturbed the sound of masses of battle-robots heading into his direction suddenly grew audible.

Fox knew he had to act fast. Usually these machines were not very agile but due to their sheer number any open fight against them would end with certain death.

The vulpine went into a side-corridor to take cover from the approaching robots. For the time being there was nothing more he could have done. Fox waited for them to come closer and hurled a grenade towards them. However, it was shot down in midair and could only cause damage to very few of the nearest enemies. It was obvious that he wouldn't win this fight like that, yet he got no better option than to keep them at a distance and try to destroy as many as possible before they'd reach him.

As the robots had come a little closer the vulpine threw another grenade, causing only marginally more damage than with the first. The mercenary waited for the first robots to almost reach the corridor he was taking cover in and quickly hurled a third grenade in between them leaping through a door to avoid being hit by pieces of the destroyed machines.

Quickly Fox ran to the other end of the room trying to bypass the hostile robots. He was aware that there'd be far too many of them in the battleship to reach the shield-generators without needing to deal with them. However, there was no way he could defeat this amount of enemies at once.

Once more the fox looked at his map to find a way to the generators only for it to be blocked by too many battle-robots yet again. No matter what he did, he just didn't get any closer to his goal and was wasting his time while the battleships kept inevitably approaching Corneria.

The mercenary gritted his teeth in frustration shooting two of the enemy-robots down before he had to retreat through another door to avoid the hail of laser-beams that hit the wall where he had just been standing a moment ago. He knew his time was limited and there was no way he'd reach the shield-generators on time if he kept running away.

Therefore Fox placed two of the grenades he had still with him on the floor, one to each sides of the door, hurried to the other end of the room aiming his blaster at one of them and leveling his other hand on top of his reflector.

Soon the robots started swarming into the room. As soon as the first ones opened fire at him Fox activated his reflector sending five beams back to the machines causing them to get shot by their own lasers. Swiftly he hit one of the grenades with his own blaster and leaped to the side at the same time, activating his reflector again as he landed in a ducked position. A loud boom blast several of the approaching enemies apart littering the floor with pieces of scrap-metal.

Without hesitation Fox hurled his last grenade through the door taking cover just next to it behind the wall. Another loud bang told him that his grenade had managed to tear several battle-robots apart. Instantly the vulpine spurted out of his cover and jumped through a door the explosion had shattered as well. For a short moment he had to activate his reflector again to unable the enemies' laser-fire from harming him.

The vulpine rolled over the floor and jumped back to his feet sprinting out of the room he had just entered at the other end. However, he had to stop abruptly as he realized some self-aiming guns on the walls in the next room. Fox used his reflector sending the guns' laser-beams back to them causing them to destroy themselves. Though easy to take out they had slowed him down enough for the robots to catch up with him.

Quickly Fox tried to escape to the other end of the room but at that very moment its door opened and some more of the battle-robots entered the room now coming from both sides.

Hastily Fox jumped backwards to avoid being hit by a laser beam gritting his teeth in aggravation. Certainly his situation had not changed for the better. He was encircled and if he didn't manage to escape fast there was no way he'd survive this. Using his machine-gun the mercenary blast the nearest enemies apart, jumping to the side to dodge some laser-beams and activating his reflector to block some more.

However, his reflector could only keep him save for a limited amount of time and the hostile robots were coming closer. Once more the vulpine leaped out of the way shooting holes into some of his enemies but this time a shot grazed his shoulder making him reel backwards with a gasp. As another beam burned its way through his boot the vulpine lost his balance and fell to the ground unintentionally dodging a shot that would have hit his face otherwise.

This was the moment when he truly realized this fight was lost. He had known before that he didn't stand a chance against that many enemies but he had hoped he could avoid them well enough to reach the shield generators. However, this obviously hadn't been the case. In one last futile effort the mercenary rolled to the side using his reflector to keep him alive for a few more seconds.

Just at that moment an explosion shook the room tearing several of the robots apart and throwing Fox against the opposite wall. Only his coincidental use of his reflector protected him from suffering further injuries by the pieces of metal that scattered around the room.

The vulpine fell to the ground being dazed by the hard impact for a moment. Yet he hadn't forgotten about the enemies all around him and got back to his feet as fast as his body would allow him to. The robots that had withstood the explosion had been thrown all around the room too and took more time to get into a standing position again. In surprise Fox realized that while they were still recovering some more of them were blast apart by a couple of smaller detonations.

At the other end of the room was a well-armed vixen of slender built with light brown fur, big ears and serious but vivid green eyes.

Fox didn't have enough time to consider how she had got there or how she had found him being way too busy fighting the robots together with her. A few shots of his enemies still hit the wall far too close to his body for his liking but together with her and with the advantage of being able to get back to his feet and start fighting again faster than the machines he managed to destroy all that posed an immediate danger to him.

With a sigh of relief and exhaustion Fox looked over at the vixen who had saved his life and for the first time in what seemed to be an eternity there was a genuine smile on his face. Things hadn't been going well since he had explained to Krystal she could no longer be a part of StarFox and since she had left him feeling deeply hurt and furious. Falco betraying Corneria and in the process also him and his team hadn't exactly changed things for the better either, but now for a short moment all of this couldn't spoil his mood.

"Fara!" Fox exclaimed walking over to her. Both his injuries weren't very severe not to say they had hardly grazed his flesh. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come to see how you're doing and see if you could use some help?" the fenek replied giving him a slightly cocky smile.

"Yes. Seems you saved my life there." he had to admit. For how long hadn't they seen each other now? It was a strange coincidence that they had run into each other when he had most needed her. Somehow Fara had always managed to be in the right place at exactly the right time.

"Alright, then let's get going. We've got a planet to save." she pointed out turning around to walk on.

Fox followed her through another corridor. "So, you're still in the business?" he ask after a short period of silence.

"Flying and fighting is all I've ever done in the past years. Though I mightn't be as famous as you I certainly have done a good job." Fara replied. "You came in here quite unprepared." she added raising an eyebrow at him in question.

"Yes, I didn't plan to get out of my Arwing but there seems to be no other way to stop those battleships." Fox explained.

"Then let's not waste any time." the vixen answered accelerating her pace.

Together Fox and Fara continued through some more corridors. Occasionally they needed to fight some more robots but they always managed to skilfully destroy them without losing much time. Like that the two foxes headed a few stories up coming closer to the shield-generators.

Just as they had reached the corridor that directly led to their destiny Fox heard a sharp hiss and a solid metal door closed in front of him. Shocked the vulpine spun round as the same sound was hear behind him trying to escape the trap. However, he wasn't fast enough and the door closed right in front of his snout making the mercenary curse and look around tensely for anything that might be trying to kill them.

"We need to get out of here!" Fara noted anxiously wrinkling her nose in a vague foreboding. "Don't you think it smells awkward?"

Fox took a breath trying to detect anything that might indicate there was some other sort of gas in the air. Much to his dislike he came to the conclusion that she most probably was right and, if this was the case, they'd not have much time to figure out a way to escape. The vulpine looked around frantically but there was nothing but thick walls all around him and there was no way they could blast them apart with the armor they had with them.

Fox knew he was in quite some tricky situation but he wasn't going to lose his composure now. There was a way to master this situation and all he needed to do was find it – the only problem was, so far he had no clue how to do that.

Gritting his teeth he glared at the doors as if he could make them open with nothing but his will power till his eyes traveled up to the ceiling and he realized that it didn't look halfway as strong as the wally.

"Fara." he said feeling his mind start to blur due to an unnatural tiredness. "Can you shoot that open?"

The vixen nodded swaying a little herself as she lifted her gun and an explosion hit the ceiling causing bits of it to hail down on them and opening a shaft wide enough for them to creep through. That is, if it weren't too high above them to reach it.

"You need to get out of here." Fox explained leaning against the wall. He shook his head to clear his mind and signaled her he'd help her climb up to the shaft.

Wasting no time Fara staggered over to him placed her left foot on his hands and climbed onto his shoulders. "But you..." she gasped the lack of breathable air making it impossible for her to finish the sentence. Nevertheless he knew what she was trying to say. Even if he was able to help her escape there was no way he'd reach the shaft.

"You'll find a way." Fox assured her struggling to keep his balance.

Tiptoeing on his shoulder the vixen reached up attempting to get a hold of the edge of the hole in the ceiling while trying to keep her eyes open. Finally she managed to find something to hold onto and jumped off Fox's shoulders but in her dazed state of mind she didn't have the strength to pull herself up.

Seeing her fierce struggle not to lose her grip Fox tried to push her up. In spite of this unnatural tiredness their combined efforts were enough to get her into the shaft.

As he heard the pounding of her steps fade away Fox finally slumped to the ground. At least she had managed to escape. He used this knowledge to console himself as his eyes fell shut and his consciousness faded into blackness.

* * *

At first Fara was only slowly dragging herself forwards the poison more and more infiltrating her mind. The knowledge that it wouldn't be only her own death if she gave up was what kept her going. Even though she hadn't seen him in years the imagination of something happening to Fox was still unbearable and the urge to do all she could to prevent this was as strong as ever. Furthermore she felt that by giving in to the weakness the gas caused she would be neglecting her duty. The Venomian forces had to be stopped and she'd do whatever it would take to fulfill this task.

As soon as possible Fara made her way out of the shaft and reentered the corridor she had been trapped in realizing in relief that she finally was breathing normal air again. Yet, in spite of her persistent dizziness, she had no time to rest and catch her breath for she knew she'd risk Fox's death and might allow her mission to fail. Both of those were things she could never possibly let happen. Therefore she dragged herself towards the door Fox was locked up behind as fast as her conditions allowed her and hastily started to look for a way to open it.

As the vixen was struggling to find a way to free her ex-boyfriend she felt how her mind slowly got clearer again and how the ability to think straight gradually returned to her. She couldn't blast the doors open but there was a mechanism to open them from the outside. All she needed to do was figure out how it worked and she needed to do this fast.

* * *

"Fox." "Fox." Those words sounded like the distant roar of a waterfall. Fox didn't understand their meaning, didn't know the seriousness of his situation, had forgotten all problems and worries floating in the blessed state of unawareness till the blackness around him lit up a little and a vague sickness started to spread out from his stomach.

He screwed his eyes shut even tighter than before and rolled to the side with a groan as perceptions begun to return to him. Fox realized he was lying on a hard metal floor but his head was resting on something much warmer and softer.

Only as the mercenary finally managed to remember where he had been when he had fallen unconscious and what he had been trying to do he sat up with a start and opened his eyes to find Fara sitting next to him.

"What has happened?" he wanted to know. Looking at Fara the vulpine tried to refocus his still a little disoriented mind.

The expression of more than just obvious relieve on her face was replaced by a slightly cocky grin as she explained: "Nothing much. I just saved your life another time."

"Yeah thanks. I guess I owe you." he answered returning her smile. Fox tried to get back to his feet only to make the dizziness fully return and to fall down again. "Ow." he groaned. "For how long have I been asleep?"

"Not long. I managed to open the door in time." Fara replied as she got up as well but, other than him, without falling down. "Luckily I didn't get any trouble with those robots while you were out."

In a more slow and careful manner than before Fox got back into a standing position too not to waste any more time but lowered his head waiting for the dizziness to fade away. Fara was irresolutely watching him for a moment before she inquired: "Can you go on?"

"Yes, yes, sure." Fox responded. He didn't feel at his best but finally managed to shake the dizziness out of his brain . "Alright. Let's finish this." he confirmed and together they continued their mission heading for the shield-generators. Fox's stomach was still rebelling and his head was aching, yet he couldn't allow anything to slow him down. After all they had a mission to complete and while he had been asleep the battleships had steadily been approaching Corneria to open fire on the beautiful planet and to cause unnecessary destruction and suffering among its inhabitants.

After passing through one more corridor and fighting against some more battle-robots that were standing in front of a massive door the two foxes finally reached their destination. They entered a middle-sized round room with a faintly glowing apparatus in the center of it. "We have made it." Fox exhaled before contacting Slippy. "Slippy, we've reached the shield-generator now." the vulpine informed his green wing-mate.

"Pew." the frog sighed. "I was already starting to get worried."

"Anyways, should we just blow it up, or is there another way to deactivate it?" Fox inquired.

"Yes, yes, just blow it up." Slippy replied. "But make sure you at least stand in a different room while doing so."

"Alright." Fox agreed turning towards Fara again. "Let's get over with this and leave the battleship as fast as we can."

Together they left the round room stopping just outside the door. "Do you think you can make the door close fast enough once I have shot the generator?" Fara ask taking aim at her target.

"I guess so." Fox confirmed readying his hand millimeters above the mechanism to shut the massive metal doors.

For a short moment Fara looked over at him her expression strangely thoughtful but this peaceful silence didn't last for long and the very next second she wore a serious determined look on her face again launching a small rocket at the shield-generator.

Instantly Fox pressed the button to close the doors and the very same moment he saw the rocked detonate in its target they hissed shut shielding the two foxes from the explosion. Nevertheless they didn't stay completely unaffected. The floor shook violently accompanied by a loud bang and Fara had to prop herself against the wall not to risk to be thrown to the ground.

"We've just destroyed the shield-generator. Slippy, could you check if the battleship is attackable now?" Fox ask.

"Yup, you have made it, Fox!" the frog informed him. "The ship no longer got any shields to defend itself. As soon as you are back in your Arwing we can blow it up."

"Understood. I'll just need a few more minutes." the vulpine replied hoping he'd not run into any more trouble and lose any more time. "How close to Corneria are the enemies by now?" he wanted to know.

"If you hurry a lot we might be able to take out one more battleship like that before we are in the range of the planet's defenses." Slippy told him.

Together Fara and Fox were heading back to the docking-bay still trying to avoid large accumulation of robots and occasionally shooting a few down that got in their way.

"You know what's strange?" Fara suddenly ask while they kept running.

"No. What?" Fox inquired. Currently he found it hard to pay much attention to what Fara was saying. Due to the gas he had breathed in he still felt short of breath and his head was buzzing.

"We almost died today. This time we really don't know if we'll be able to beat Venom and... I've not had that much fun in quite some time." the vixen admitted.

Fox couldn't help but produce a half-smile. "Well, you've always had an awkward taste."

"I know, it's weird." she agreed. "I guess I couldn't lead any other life. It's as if I wouldn't be truly alive if I couldn't die the next moment."

Fox had known Fara for long enough that this didn't surprise him at all. He was very familiar with the way she thought, though he couldn't fully relate. It wasn't difficult to understand for him but his motives were others. The reason why he fought was to keep the Lylat-System save, to prevent all the evil forces that were threatening it from turning it into the chaos it would be if no one faced them, and he fought because he had always grown up to do so. Even though he probably wouldn't have admitted it, he fought to make the family he had lost too early proud.

Both Fox and Fara shared a strong sense of duty but apart from that their motives had little in common. Fox had fully come to terms with the fact that he could get killed any moment but he had never craved this thrill the way she did.

Fox shot down two more battle-robots that were blocking his way before entering the corridor which lead them directly to the docking bay. "We will exit the battleship any moment." Fox informed Slippy. "Let's prepare to blow it up."

"Alright, Fox... but who is 'we'?" the frog ask in puzzlement.

"Oh, yes. I forgot to mention it. I've met Fara on board the battleship." the vulpine explained.

"Fara?" Slippy repeated. "You mean Fare, your ex-girlfriend?"

"Yes, exactly, Slippy. That's the Fara I've met."

"Woah and how did..." the frog tried to ask.

"Listen, Slippy, I got no time to explain that now." Fox cut him off. "Rob! Sent me my Arwing back to the docking-bay of the battleship."

"Affirmative." the robot confirmed the moment Fox and Fara entered the docking bay. They had known the enemies wouldn't just let them get away that easily. Thus it was no surprise to be greeted by masses of hostile machines.

"No! My beautiful Arwing!" Fara exclaimed in disbelief. Other than Fox she hadn't made it warp away after she had landed and their enemies hadn't left out this opportunity to turn it into scrap-metal. Hatefully she glared at the battle-robots. "You will pay for this!"

Fox sprinted towards one of the still inactivated drones that was standing in the docking bay to take cover behind it shooting three of the enemy-robots while Fara ran to the other side doing the same.

The relentless enemy-fire soon made his cover start to smoke one of its wings being completely totaled. Fox ducked down aiming two more shots at the robots before he quickly rushed over to the next drone getting a little closer to his Arwing.

Two enemies tried to walk around his cover but he managed to shoot them down before they could aim. Not wanting to stay on the same spot for too long he jumped over behind to the next drone landing one more hit.

"Fara, are you alright?" he called peering out from behind his cover to destroy some more robots.

"Yes! I am getting closer to the Arwing! We'll meet there, right?!" she replied and for a short moment he could see a blur of brown fur before she disappeared behind the next object to provide her safety again.

Fox too managed to get closer to his space-fighter, however some battle-robots had gathered around it keeping him from getting there. Tensing his jaw he tried to figure out the best way to destroy them fast and take off. He knew he couldn't hesitate or else he'd soon be encircled. Therefore Fox rushed to the other side of the drone he was hiding behind quickly peering out to shoot down two of the battle-robots.

Instantly he had to take cover again as six laser beams flew through the space where his head had been just a moment ago. Fox jumped up onto the wing of the drone staying ducked not to provide the hostile machines any target. Readying his blaster he got up for a short moment shooting two of the robots in the head and one in the torso.

As he lay back down on the wing he realized three more enemies just in time that were approaching him diagonally from the opposite direction. With a start Fox dropped himself off the wing shooting two of them. Right after his feet touched the floor he leaped towards a different drone shooting the remaining robot.

Trying not to let any get that close anymore the vulpine tried to gain a better overall picture about where his enemies were standing and whereto they were moving. There were two more battle-robots heading into his direction he needed to destroy before he could concentrate on gaining access to his Arwing again.

As he aimed at some of the enemies from behind his cover he realized Fara had managed to blast apart at least five in the meanwhile. However, he also saw on the map Slippy had sent him that many more from elsewhere in the battleship were heading for the docking-bay. This meant they needed to get out of here fast.

Determined Fox tried to get as close to his space-fighter as possible without leaving his cover. He waited for one second taking a deep breath as he readied himself for what he was up to. As fast as he could the mercenary jumped out from behind his cover shooting three robots down as he did so. At the same moment he activated his reflector sending four laser-beams back to their owners disabling them.

He sprinted on towards his Arwing blasting two more machines apart before he needed to use his reflector again. The vulpine jumped in between his enemies switching his reflector on to push them out of the way and leaped onto his fighter's wing. Quickly he dropped himself into his cockpit closing the canopy.

Fox started the engines of his Arwing making his ship spin around to shatter the nearby robots. Hovering over to where Fara was hiding he touched down on the ground making his canopy open back up to allow her in.

As Fara came out from behind the drone to jump up onto his wing and climb into the cockpit he used his blaster to eliminate every robot that was in the right position to shoot at her.

Finally they were ready to take off. Fara had sat down on Fox's lap and he had shut his canopy to protect them from the hostile laser-beams and to leave the battleship and reenter the endless voids of outer-space.

"Slippy, Peppy, we've left the battleship. It can now be shot down." Fox told his wing-mates. "Fara's Arwing got destroyed. I'm going to take her to the Great Fox and she can borrow one of our spare fighters."

It wasn't an easy way back to the Great Fox. Their enemies seemed to be as determined as ever to shoot them down and with Fara accompanying him in a cockpit that was only designed for one Fox couldn't maneuver as well as usually. Yet, somehow he made constant progress towards the Great Fox.

"I guess that makes us even." Fox noted.

Fara nodded slowly, looking to the side and watching a few space-crafts explode before she answered. "Yes, we complemented each other perfectly well in there."

* * *

_Outer-space; in another place of the Lylat-System; same time_

Wolf flew a loop evading a damaged drone that would have crashed right into him otherwise and concentrated his laser-fire on one of the small battleships that were accompanying the swarm of drones. He managed to cause quite significant damage before he was forced to back off by the fierce attacks of the drones circling him like angry wasps.

The lupine brought some distance in between himself and the main accumulation of enemies downing a few drones while doing so and did an U-turn heading straight back into the battle. He barrel-rolled reflecting a few weak laser-beams and landed a few more hits on the same battle-ship he had been targeting before.

"And another battle-ship less to worry about!" Panther announced over the com. "Damn, I'm great!"

Even though he was more than busy enough evading and dodging his enemies' fire without letting them force him onto the defensive Wolf couldn't help role his single eye. The cat sure as hell was a great pilot but Wolf hadn't met many people as full of themselves as him.

After a few more maneuvers Wolf got close enough to the battleship to be able to shoot a bomb at it without risking to hit one of the drones instead and watched with content as it tore a hole into it.

However, a single moment of inattention on his part made several laser-beams hit his Wolfen as he was looking for a new target. "Fuck!" Wolf cursed doing a quick barrel-roll to avoid further damage.

"Watch out, Wolf." he heard Leon speak over the com. "We can't use you to get blast apart now."

"I know that." the lupine growled. "Better watch out you don't screw up yourself."

No matter how much Wolf loved to fly and to improve his skills in aerial combat there was no denying that this many small drones were plainly annoying and no fun to fight against at all. They were acting on very simple principles, ungainly and boring and the only thing that made them dangerous was their sheer amount. Furthermore their laser-beams were scratching his beautiful Wolfen.

Wolf, naturally not being the most frustration-resistant person, was getting more and more fed up with those little pests as time progressed. He knew this was one of his weak-points as it didn't help to keep a level head but at times he simply couldn't help it.

There had been way too many fights of this kind lately and nothing truly thrilling which would have reminded him of what he loved about flying and fighting. Moreover, his current occupation made him feel annoyingly useless and ordinary. There were thousands and millions of those battleships. They could destroy a few and in the end it didn't make any difference. Well, they got paid for it, not very well, but anyways.

What Wolf was truly craving at the moment was to be able to carry out a real fight again with his beloved Wolfen against a competent pilot and not those useless little pests. It was times like this when he missed his battles against his long-term rival the most. Instead he was stuck doing the ever same boring routine for too little money and with the constant risk of getting blast apart by some fucking boring drones.

Again the lupine swerved to the side avoiding a volley of laser-beams and dove down to dodge the massive beam of one of the battleships. He did an U-turn to shake some drones that were trying to follow him shooting a charged shot into the rear of a battleship.

"Hey! What the..." he suddenly heard Panther exclaim in astonishment. "Stop that will ya!" Wolf looked over to the feline to see if he was in trouble. Apparently the cat had not been paying enough attention to all the little drones while trying to down one more battleship and now he was completely encircled by them unable to escape.

"Well, you ain't that great now, are you?" Wolf remarked flying over to Panther.

"What?! Quit complaining and better help me!" his black-furred wing-mate complained barrel-rolling to deflect the laser beams that were constantly hitting his ship.

Swiftly Wolf swept in firing two charged shots into the accumulation of enemies and Leon appeared at the other side doing the same. Together they managed to lighten the dense accumulation of drones allowing Panther to escape.

"Pew, those things are annoying." the feline noted looping to get back to his target and to fire some more shots into it.

Meanwhile Wolf headed into the opposite direction criss crossing all the drones to get close to his own target. He evaded one of the battleship's laser-beams landing a hit with a charged shot and proceeded to charge and fire his laser till he had to turn round to gain some distance.

Blasting a few drones apart and dodging or reflecting their shots he turned round once more targeting the battleship. Wolf concentrated his fire on one of the weak-points of the space-craft finally managing to make it break into halves. "Got one." he informed his team-mates and swerved to the right doing a loop to shake the enemies that were following him.

"Me too." Leon told them shortly afterwards.

"And I am just about to down the next!" Panther announced and Wold could see one more dot disappear from his radar.

"Alright, only two left." Wolf realized. "Let's finish this."

He had to abruptly dive down not to crash into a damaged drone that was spiraling out of control and almost hit his Wolfen before it exploded. Just as he had done countless times before he barrel rolled charging a shot and fired at one of the remaining battleships.

"Damn!" he suddenly heard Leon curse just as he was about to shoot another charged laser at the enemy-space-craft. "They are too many!"

"Do you need help?" he ask his fellow pilot looking at his radar to establish the lizard's position.

"I could use some, yes." the chameleon admitted a hint of stress noticeable in his voice. However, Wolf wasn't able to get there fast as a drone crashed into him making his ship tilt to the side with a jolt.

"Fuck!" Wolf growled trying to dodge the enemies' laser-fire but several beams hit his wings. "Panther, you'll have to take care of this."

"Alright, alright. I am on my way." the feline agreed in a lazy manner.

"Now come here at once instead of talking stupidly!" Leon yelled at him swerving to the right and barrel-rolling to avoid further damage being done to his ship.

However, Wolf had no time to pay any attention to his struggles to fend off the enemies or to Panther flying in to aid him as he was more than busy enough fighting for his own survival. Wolf's left wing had taken damage and his shields were dropping at a critical speed.

Cursing quietly the lupine tried to fight his way out of the dense swarm of drones but to no avail. No matter how many of them he blasted apart new ones kept coming and he wasn't maneuverable enough in this mess to escape without crashing into that many of the drones his fighter would be reduced to pieces.

"Panther, can't you hurry?! I need some help too." Wolf had to admit doing another barrel-roll to deflect the enemies' fire.

"Well, I am not finished here." Panther replied. His voice no longer sounded as laid-back and above everything as it had done at the beginning of the fight. By now also he had had to realize they were in severe trouble. It could well be that today one ship too little would return to the Wolf's Fang after this battle and this scared him more than he liked to admit.

"I'll be alright. Just fly over and help Wolf already." Leon urged him. However, it was easy to tell, he was nowhere near out of trouble yet. Both Leon and Wolf weren't able to shake their pursuers and as they were just three mercenaries on the team there was no way both could be helped at the same time. Thus one had to try to stay alive long enough till Panther was finished saving the other.

"No. You can't... Just what should I do?!" Panther wanted to know continuing to try to shoot enough drones down for Leon to escape.

"Just hurry." Wolf demanded. The relentless attacks of those drones were making him angry. He quickly made his ship roll to the side to avoid colliding with two of the machines firing his laser at some others.

The lupine growled in annoyance as another laser hit his damaged wing causing his ship to make a slight jolt. He flew a loop blasting three of the little drones apart and swerved sharply to the left right in front of one of the battleships.

Wolf suddenly had an idea. Whether or not it was a good one was arguable but now was not the right time to hesitate. Besides he didn't have much of an other choice.

He stopped moving right in front of the battleship firing a charged shot at it and started to charge the next one while he barrel-rolled to protect himself against all the small laser-beams that hit him from everywhere around. "Whatcha gonna do now?" he ask staring at the space-craft in anticipation of it's reaction.

Wolf's assumption hadn't been mistaken. The battleship responded exactly like he had planned for it to do, namely with one of it's massive laser-beams. Swiftly the lupine evaded the attack by mere centimeters. Instead of blowing up his Wolfen the laser beam burned its way through the dense swarm of drones.

Not wasting any time Wolf immediately fired another charged shot at the battleship in an effort to coerce it to destroy more of the small drones by attempting to blow his Wolfen up. The bigger space-craft did him this favor piercing right through at least ten of the little pests that just wouldn't back off.

As he couldn't expect this little trick to work forever Wolf had to change his strategy. He flew straight towards the enemy-space-craft targeting it with his laser. Once more the bigger ship tried to shot him down yet again missing everything but its own tiny allies and turned trying to gain some distance.

However, the Wolfen was both faster and more maneuverable and easily caught up with the battleship. Wolf flew around the ship staying as close as possible. Most of the time he tried to keep barrel-rolling not to let his shields be taken out completely while he circled around the enemies' battleship.

Doing this fulfilled two purposes. First of all he was only attackable from one side as the other one was too close to the battleship for any drones to get in between and secondly all the shots of the drones that missed his fighter hit the space-craft he was circling around. The battleship had much stronger shields than his Wolfen, however, it was absolutely unable to evade or deflect that many small laser-beams and quickly took a lot of damage in spite of their weakness.

Wolf only needed to keep following this strategy and it didn't take long till the battleship's shields failed. Instantly the lupine sped up gaining some distance as the space-ship exploded. Clenching his jaw he tried not to lose control of his fighter as it collided with one of the drones tearing a piece of his previously undamaged wing off.

"Fuck!" he cursed glaring at the dismembered wing. His Wolfen couldn't take much more damage, yet the lupine had achieved his goal. All but one battle-ship had been destroyed and he had managed to escape death, for the time being at least.

At this moment Panther and Leon caught up with him and together they headed for the last left-over enemy-space-ship. "Wow. I have to admit, this was pretty amazing." Panther complimented on Wolf's escape.

"Yeah, but close nonetheless. Way too close." Leon added. "There's a reason why there are usually four pilots on a team and not just three."

"Still, we're better now than we were when Pigma and Oikony were still with us." Wolf noted starting to attack the last battleship.

"Yes, but that's just because one of them was a coward and the other a traitor." Leon pointed out looping around some drones and firing a charged shot at the last target they needed to take out.

"And because I am simply great." Panther added with a smirk dodging the space-craft's laser and firing a smart-bomb at it.

"Well, because arrogance appears to be less harmful than cowardice and disloyalty." Leon corrected him.

"Trustworthy and skilled members are just not that easy to come by." Wolf concluded. "Besides, Leon, it's you who appears to hate every potential new member."

"Not just the potential ones." Panther added glancing at the chameleon. In spite of their in many ways contrasting and seemingly incompatible personalities they now managed to get along pretty well with each other, however this hadn't always been the case. It probably would have been an understatement to just say they had needed some time to adjust to each other.

"I don't particularly hate them." Leon contradicted this statement. "I just don't like them."

Together they kept circling the battleship and firing at it taking care not to let the drones cause too much damage to their Wolfen and it didn't take long until their last target finally broke apart.

"We're finished here." Wolf announced. "Let's head back to the Wolf's Fang. I need a drink."

"Me too!" Panther decided.

"Anyways, where are we going to go next as we appear to be finished here?" Leon inquired while they zoomed towards their mother-ship.

"I've not decided yet." Wolf replied after a short pause. "Probably to Aquas or to Zoness, though."

AN: Thanks for reading and, in case you've got a little time, reviews, criticism, your thoughts or opinion on my story or anything along those lines are always highly appreciated. I hope to have the next chapter finished within the first half of January but I can't promise anything.


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